College Prep: Aspects of a Strong Application Essay
Application essays and personal statements are a major part of a student’s college application. This is where students can share some more information about themselves so they become more than just their GPA and test scores. That being said, students should put some serious effort into crafting strong essays and personal statements that will paint a picture of the important qualities that they possess and reasons they would be a good addition to a certain college.
While there are a lot of things that go into a college application, one important piece is a student’s application essay(s) and/or personal statement(s). These are basically short pieces of writing where students either answer a specific prompt or write about a topic they get to choose and give admissions teams at their desired schools some more information about them as a person and a student.
So much of a student’s college application consists of numbers and statistics — their GPA, standardized test scores, class rank. These numbers are important for giving admissions teams a sense of how well a student performs and whether they will be able to perform to the academic standard of a certain school, as all schools have different levels of academic rigorousness.
However, colleges aren’t interested in ONLY getting a sense of how students perform at academics. After all, they want to admit students who will do more for their school than simply get good grades and graduate. They want new students to become involved members of their campus and local communities, be passionate about important causes, and strive to be leaders. This is why students are asked to include information about their extracurricular activities, community involvement, work experience, and letters of recommendation from teachers and mentors. Colleges WANT to get to know students as more than their test scores. All of these pieces gives colleges a better idea of the qualities and passions of a student, but there is one piece in particular where students should make sure to take that to the next level: college application essays.
College application essays are a student’s one chance to paint their own picture for college admissions teams. Many students will take this opportunity to discuss a cause they’re passionate about or a life-changing event they’ve experienced that has changed something about their beliefs and what’s important to them. Other students might use this space as a chance to justify a drop in grades or a test score that is lower than the average for a certain school.
Some colleges will include particular application questions that students are required to include with their applications. These will often ask about leadership roles, difficult situations students have experienced, hopes and aspirations that students have, and more. For these essays, it’s important that students answer the question being asked, so they can’t always write about whatever they want, but they should make sure to take a good amount of care into crafting these responses no matter what the prompt is.
In contrast, the Common App consists of one essay of 650 words. The Common App offers students a way to apply to multiple schools at once without having to create a separate full application for each. (Not all schools use the Common App system, so make sure to do your homework and know what is required for each specific school on your list of colleges where you want to apply.) The Common App offers some suggestions for what students could write their essay about, but students ultimately get to decide what they want to write about — they aren’t required to write about one of the suggested prompts that the Common App gives.
An essay of 650 words gives students a good amount of space to tell a story. The goal of this essay should be to appeal to admissions teams by giving them more insight into a student as a person, emphasizing important qualities, lessons learned, community engagement, or any other factors that make a student unique. Students should take their time pondering what they will write about for this essay. Some students have experienced significant, life-changing events and will choose to write about those. Other students may struggle to find something to write about — that’s when it can be helpful to consider the prompt suggestions that the Common App gives.
We encourage students to avoid comparing themselves to others they know when it comes to college application essay topics. Some students have experienced traumatic situations or life-changing medical events. For these students, it can seem like a college application essay is easy, as they have a serious topic to write about and a powerful story to tell. But this can be discouraging to other students who maybe have been blessed with good health, a happy home life, and a good academic record. However, ANYTHING can make for a great essay topic. Essays can be happy, sad, serious, playful, sarcastic. It’s more about HOW essays are written and the overarching points conveyed than the underlying subject matter.
Just like any TOPIC can make a strong college application essay, any STUDENT can write a strong college application essay. However, doing so will take time, effort, and patience. Keep reading below to find out what we think all great college application essays have in common.
Characteristics of a Strong College Application Essay
1. The subject is meaningful to you
Earlier in this post, we mentioned that any topic can make for a great college application essay, and this is totally true. What makes a subject great doesn’t so much have to do with the topic as it does with how it’s written about. Pick a subject that you truly care about — certainly don’t make something up in an attempt to impress college admissions teams. Whether you write about the passing of a loved one, your favorite pet, or your favorite food does not matter. If it’s something that you truly care about, that will reflect in your writing.
2. It tells a story
You always want to make your application essay as personal as possible. After all, this is your one chance to give admissions teams a glimpse of you as a person outside of academia. We encourage students to include first-person, personal stories with their applications. This evokes more feelings from the people that will read the essay and generally makes essays more memorable.
3. It’s specific
You don’t want to be too broad with your essay. If anything, that makes it much more difficult to make a strong point within the low word-count constraint. For example, rather than trying to sum up how 4 years of high school basketball has changed your perspective on life, try focusing on just one season — or even just one game. Include small details that paint a picture and tell a specific story.
4. It’s free of spelling and grammatical errors
This should be a no-brainer. No matter how great of a story you tell and how well you tell it, if your college application essay is riddled with punctuation and spelling errors the admissions team that reads it will have a hard time absorbing your overall purpose.
5. You’ve written several drafts
Your first draft of any essay will never be your best draft. Now, we’re not saying that you need to write two or more full drafts of every essay you’ll ever write for school, but your college application essays are SO important, so you should make sure to write AT LEAST 2-3 drafts of your essays. Chances are that as you work through each draft, you’ll find more and more things you want to change — and probably for the better!
6. It’s been reviewed by someone else
It can be intimidating and embarrassing to let someone else review your writing and offer feedback, especially when its something as personal as your college application essay. However, this is a very valuable step in the college application writing process. It’s easy to either add too much information or not add enough when you’re writing about yourself and a personal story — after all, you’re inside your own head and you know the story inside out. It’s important to let someone else read your essay and offer a different perspective. Let them ask questions and give suggestions.
7. It answers the prompt
While you get to choose the topic you write about for the Common App, there could be more specific prompts and questions that students need to answer with their personal statements. Make sure your final essay response speaks to what the prompt is looking for — you need to answer the question.
There you have it: aspects of a great college application essay. Remember to consider the Common App prompt suggestions if you get stuck while pondering a topic for your essays. Otherwise, write, write, write, and then write some more. Starting early, several drafts, and getting input from others are key to sending off the strongest college application essays you’re capable of.